First Chances
by Drew Michaels
Summary: This is a prequel to Second Chances. This story will explore Ben Dixon's life growing up on Macross Island and beyond. *Science homework was never this cool. Ben and Max get a glimpse of their future.* As always, please review or comment and thanks for reading.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: All Robotech characters and vehicles are property of Harmony Gold USA.

This is a prequel to _Second Chances_. Yeah…I could have been more creative with the title, but it marks this as part of the same AU continuity. And I'm not going to bother coming up with funky chapter titles either this time around.

* * *

**Chapter 1**

Ben was bored and annoyed, maybe more bored and annoyed than a twelve year old had a right to be. He was stuck on yet another airplane with his parents, apparently as part of the torture to make him miss every person he had ever known. All this traveling had started a couple of days ago, although it seem like months to Ben right now. His parents had come and picked him up from his grandparent's farm, probably for the last time. He had been spending summers there since he was eight and now his parents were taking him too far away to come back again. Yeah, his Mom and his Grandma had both said he could come back on his own when he was older, but how much fun would that be? It wouldn't be any fun at all if he had to wait until he was his parent's age before he would ever see the farm again.

It wouldn't have been too bad except he didn't get a chance to say goodbye to any of his pals in his neighborhood at home either. Since his Mom and Dad were dragging him halfway around the world, they thought it was a good idea to go straight to the airport! Ben didn't even know they were going to a new home until one of the last letters they had written to him while he was at Grandma and Grandpa's. So after the long ride back to Chicago and what seemed like several hours waiting to get through security at O'Hare, they were on a 737 heading to Los Angeles on the first leg of their trip. Apparently Mom and Dad had all of everyone's possessions packed up and shipped to the new place while he was visiting the farm. So all they had to do was get themselves to the new place, some rock in the boonies of the Pacific called Macross Island. Five hours later, and they were in the International Concourse at LAX with a 3 hour layover until the plane for their next leg left. That was going to be a 747 to Tokyo with a brief stop in Hawaii, but it wasn't going to be the final destination. _This day is going downhill fast, _groused Ben to himself.

* * *

Sitting in the concourse was mind numbingly dull. There were no good books at the newsstands. There were no arcades or video games to kill time. And worst of all, there were no good food joints and what they had were super overpriced. The layover itself was too short to bother leaving the concourse for later. _This just totally sucks,_ thought Ben for the thousandth time. He couldn't even chat with his parents; they seemed too busy talking about the adult stuff they'd have to do when they got to that stupid island. _Why couldn't they just have let me stay with Grandma and Grandpa?_

Not soon enough for his taste, the boarding for the flight to Tokyo began. They were way back in the tail section in coach, so it took Ben and his parents forever to get to their seats. Then it seemed like they had hardly any time to get settled before the huge plane began to taxi for take-off. At least this leg Ben was so exhausted he fell asleep almost as soon as they were airborne. It only felt like a few minutes, but Ben slept the whole way to Hawaii. The weather was beautiful when they landed, but they weren't getting off the jet here; only the passengers staying in Hawaii left the plane, some to be replaced by those leaving Hawaii for Japan, and all the transfers had to take place while they were refueling the big airliner. After an hour at most, the big jet taxied again for take-off for an even longer flight to Tokyo. And they were going to lose a day on top of it when they crossed the International Date Line.

The jet lag had all of the Dixons body clocks messed up, so even though it was a dark, moonless night, Ben and his parents couldn't sleep. His Mom had remembered to pack a deck of playing cards, so they were able to kill a couple of hours with various games, but soon that became monotonous too. Mrs. Dixon tried to keep her son's spirits up, but the long days of travel were wearing on everyone.

"Really Ben, things won't be so bad when we get to the new house. I promise, it won't be for nothing we're going to Macross."

"I guess I know that Mom. I just really miss Grandma and Grandpa and being at their farm. It really feels like I may never see the ever again. And we left so quick I never got to go home and say goodbye to all my buddies in the neighborhood."

"You don't think your father and I aren't giving up friends and family too? We won't be seeing my own father for a long while either. Your Grandpa Leo will be oh so glad to hear you think of him as chopped liver, if you think of him at all."

"Geez Ma, you know that's not what I meant. You know I like Grandpa Leo just as much as Grandpa Jordan and Grandma Becca. It's just that leaving right from the farm means it was fresher in my mind. So…Grandpa Leo really wants you and Dad to set up a dry-cleaning store when we get to this island?"

"Yes he does Ben. There's a big project going on there that the U.E.G. is involved in and your grandfather figures that if there's a large number of soldiers based on Macross then they will be needing just such a service to help keep their uniforms clean."

"So why did I have to come?"

"What kind of parents would we be if we left you back on the mainland, even if it was with other family members? We love you and wanted you to stay with us. I'm sorry if it's causing you some sadness, but your father and I couldn't bear for you to be that far away from the two of us."

That little talk gave Ben more things to think about and soon he dozed off again, dreaming of being a big shot in the dry-cleaning business. In his dream, Ben was in charge of over a hundred stores around the world and he was all grown up like his Dad and had a super gorgeous wife with black hair and violet eyes (1) and ten fancy cars and a huge house with twenty bedrooms and two tennis courts and three swimming pools and a guest house as big as the house they used to live in and…who was shaking him? "Wake up sleepy head. We'll be landing in about twenty-five minutes." came his Mom's voice.

* * *

The airport in Tokyo seemed OK, but after a while, all airports kind of start looking the same. Ugh…it was going to be the same deal as in Los Angeles: a long layover that wasn't long enough to make leaving the airport worthwhile. At least the newsstands had some interesting looking manga, and some of them were English translations. (The beauty of an international airport.) The next leg was going to be a short hop to Okinawa. Apparently there were no flights directly from Tokyo to Macross Island, most likely because of the heavy UN military presence on Macross. When they finally took off, it was an uneventful leg, which was fine by Ben, but when they landed in Okinawa the military connection to Macross Island was very clear. Their layover at this stop, which looked like the old United States base that had been here for half a century, was only long enough to change planes, but the next plane they got on looked more like an Air Force transport than a commercial craft. Since the Dixons had been flying throughout UN controlled territory, there really was no need for passports, but now that they were almost to Macross, they were required to present their immigration paperwork and identification proving their identities. Ben got a bit nervous trying to imagine what kind of top secret stuff might force the UN to use such strict security protocols.

Their time in the security checkpoint was actually very short; it was only nervousness that made it seem like forever. Once through the checkpoint, they were herded to the transport and shown their seats. It looked like a normal airliner interior, so Ben figured this craft was for personnel only. _Good,_ thought Ben, _I would hate to be stuck sitting on a shipping crate._ They were up in the air in no time and it was another smooth flight, but it was a long over-water flight, so there was nothing really to see, not even an occasional boat on the ocean. Ben was back to being bored but the anticipation of arriving at the very final destination kept him from napping again. He did daydream a little during the trip, going back to the dream he had on the flight to Tokyo. Ben was really digging the idea of lot's of cars but was very confused why he dreamt about mushy stuff like having a wife. _But those violet eyes she had were kinda cool._

An announcement from the pilot brought Ben back to the present. They were making the final approach to Macross Island, which would be visible on the right side of the plane, the side Ben was sitting on. Ben stuck his nose to the window, straining for a peak, and was shocked to see this gigantic blocky thing taking up a huge chunk of the island, almost like the island wound up being built around this …thing. The pilot made another announcement. "If you'll look out your windows now, you'll see one of the main features of Macross Island, the craft the UN Spacy has dubbed SDF-1. The scientists, engineers and technicians are working around the clock to rebuild it so we will be able to defend our planet and should be finished within a few more years." (2) "Wow." was the only thing out of Ben's mouth. After several days traveling, this one sight washed all the boredom away from the young boy.

The only airfield was that of the military base, but they were able to dedicate one of the runways to the small bit of commercial traffic that flew into the island. Ben's eyes widened as they came in for touch down; they would be landing almost parallel to the massive spacecraft. Massive was an understatement. When the Dixons could finally exit the transport, they looked over towards the SDF-1 in absolute awe: the thing looked like a metal mountain. They only had a short time to gawk at it though as they were soon escorted into the civilian concourse area where they were able to catch a taxi. They had no checked baggage, only carry-ons.

All during the ride to their new house here on Macross, Ben was twisting around in his seat in order to keep that space fortress within view, which wasn't difficult since it towered over all the buildings on the island. He kept wondering if they gave tours of it. It looked huge enough to hike through for two weeks and still not see everything in it. Ben began to dream of going into space on it when it launched, but he wasn't sure he was going to be old enough when it finally did launch. At the very least, all the daydreaming made the taxi ride pass by quickly. Before Ben knew it, they were parked in front of their new home.

It was sunset local time as they grabbed their bags from the taxi's trunk and trudged into the house. Ben found his room, but most of his stuff was still packed. His bed was set up, but there were no sheets on it. Ben found the moving box labeled "Sheets" and quickly found a summer set to make his bed with. The weather felt pretty tropical here; Ben doubted he would ever need his flannel sheets again. With everyone's body clocks thrown off from all the traveling the last few days, Mrs. Dixon thought it was best to just go to bed now, and wake up fresh the next morning. That was the only way they were going to adjust to the jet lag. That suited Ben just fine; the adrenaline rush from seeing the big battle fortress was beginning to wear off and he was starting to feel exhausted again. Without any further urging from his mother, he trudged up stairs, took his sneakers off and collapsed on the bed, dreaming of space flight and girls with violet eyes.

* * *

Author's Notes: This story picks up pretty much right after Ben's final flashback in _Bloom of Hope_ where he is having one final talk with his grandmother before his parents come to pick him up from the farm. Since Ben did not join the RDF until after it had folded to Pluto, it follows that he had to have been part of the civilian population of Macross Island at that point in time. This story will begin to explore that back story and Ben's adventures growing up on Macross Island.

(1) This dream might have had a touch of premonition in it. ;-)

(2) It is approximately late 2004 in this timeline.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: All Robotech characters and vehicles property of Harmony Gold USA.

Ben and his parents start getting used to their new home. (The AU prequel to _Second Chances_.)

* * *

**Chapter 2**

Ben groggily got up out of his bed and staggered to the bathroom. _How long was I asleep for?_ He was still affected by the jet lag but hopefully his body clock would only need another day or two to reset. His Mom had unpacked some of the towels, so Ben hopped in the shower to try and wake up a little more. Shaking his sleep away in a mass of soapy lather, he began to relax and think about what he needed to do today. Drying off quick, Ben wrapped the towel around his waist and went back to his room to find clean clothes.

That was probably going to be task number one today: unpack his clothes. His Mom was very thorough about labeling all the moving boxes, so Ben had no problem finding which ones held his clothes. One held shirts, another held pants, and yet another held sock and underwear. It took no time at all to find a comfy pair of jeans and his one of his favorite t-shirts. Once dressed, he moved the remaining contents of each box into a drawer in his dresser except the pants, which got hung in the closet. Ben stacked each box in one corner of the room as he emptied it and in no time all the boxes marked as having clothes were unpacked and put away. It was quick work, but Ben still worked up an appetite. _Wonder if there's anything in the house for breakfast yet?_

Ben tromped down to the kitchen, but found only a pair of notes and whatever of their travel snacks were left. The first note was encouraging, since it said his Mom had gone to the find the grocery store. The second note was a bit neutral; it only said Dad was going to check on the progress of the new dry-cleaning shop. After grabbing a handful of the remaining trail mix, Ben went back up to his room to see what else could be unpacked. He thought one box said it had his model airplanes and he would bet another one was labeled as containing his posters. It may not be his old home, but he could at least make his room look tolerable.

* * *

"Benjamin!" came echoing from downstairs. _Mom is home._ Ben thought with a smile. He ran downstairs, knowing that there should be groceries now. "Hey Mom," he said as he entered the kitchen, "You need help with something?"

"As a matter of fact, I do need help putting this food away. Have you been behaving?"

"Yeah. Not like there's anything to get in trouble doing. Got all my clothes unpacked."

"All morning to do that?" Mrs. Dixon said skeptically.

"I did shower. And I was starting to go through the boxes with my personal stuff, you know, the models and posters. I might need Dad to put some shelves up for all my models. Gonna need some tape for the posters too."

"Well, you can probably ask him yourself in a little bit. After we get these groceries put away and have a little breakfast, we're going to go meet your father down at the new store. Your Grandpa Leo sent a crew ahead to get it all set up and your father says it's amazing how much they've gotten done."

"Deal!" Ben said with a huge grin.

There weren't that many groceries to put away, since Mrs. Dixon really just bought basics and staples, but it still took a decent amount of time. The whole pantry had to be organized from scratch. Ben was in charge of putting the perishables away in the fridge and freezer. Milk, orange juice, eggs, butter, some fruit and a couple of fresh vegetables found their places in the fridge. There was a pack of chicken drumsticks and another of ground beef that his Mom told him to put in the freezer plus a bag of ice cubes. They were going to have to buy new ice cube trays before they would be able to make their own cubes.

"All done with the fridge stuff Ma, you need any help?"

"No Ben, I'm done too now," Mrs. Dixon says as she slides the last of the canned goods into its place. "Now…what were you going to want for breakfast?"

Ben eyes a certain brown box on a pantry shelf and gets a huge grin on his face. "I think I would like some cereal please. That will be quick and easy." _Besides_, he thought to himself,_ there is no way I'm passing up a bowl of Cocoa Puffs. That is my absolute favorite cereal!_

"Very well," his mom says with a knowing smile, "Just don't take the rest of the morning to eat it."

"Yay!" Ben exclaims and runs to the kitchen with the box.

"And don't eat the whole box this morning either!"

"Yes Ma." came an exasperated reply.

* * *

As much as it pained him to only have one bowl, Ben was excited to get out and see the new store and the rest of the city. He had been focused on the hulking battle fortress the whole taxi ride yesterday that he hadn't really noticed anything else. His mom had told him school didn't start until next week, so that meant he should be able to see how many other kids were in the neighborhood. Grandpa Leo had been able to get a storefront within walking distance of the new house, so Ben and his mom started the walk as soon as the breakfast dishes were cleared.

It was a beautiful day, the sun already warm even though it wasn't even mid-morning. Children from the neighboring families were out playing, but things didn't look to hopeful to Ben. Most of the kids he saw during the walk were little kids, the oldest maybe in 3rd grade, too little for him to play with. The couple of older kids Ben saw looked like high school upper classmen, so they weren't going to want to hang out with him. That brought Ben back into a bit of a funk, still missing his friends from back home. Mrs. Dixon looked at her son with a twinge of motherly intuition and pats his shoulder, "I know dear, but you will make new friends here. It might not happen overnight, but it will happen."

They walked the rest of the way to the new store in silence, taking in the sight and getting to know the local landmarks of the neighborhood. As they round the last corner, Ben was surprised to see how big the new store was. Noticeably bigger than the store his parents had been running in the Chicago area, it took up what seemed to be the whole first floor of the building on the opposite corner of this intersection. It wasn't exactly at the corner, more like the next building in, but it was still good sized and seemed to be right on a main artery road. Knowing his Grandpa Leo, this busy street was probably a main road going back and forth between the base and the military housing. And Ben was pretty sure Grandpa Leo had hooked them up with a house so close to the store too, knowing they wouldn't have a car right away, if they even needed a car. It looked like everything they would need was within walking distance in this neighborhood. But Ben realized wheels would be necessary to explore outside the immediate area. _I hope my bike got packed._

The store itself was a bustle of activity, workmen installing countertops and wallpaper in the customer area, while others were no doubt installing the actually cleaning machines and the racks to keep all the orders straightened out in the back area. Ben didn't recognize any of the men, but his mom did. She walked up to one, who looked like the foreman, and began speaking, "Joseph my dear, Things look wonderful so far!"

"Ah Lois, I'm glad you like it. The boys and I have been working extra hard to make sure you two can open up in a couple of more days." the man replied warmly. Ben guessed they were they crew Grandpa Leo sent, that's why his mom knew them.

"Excellent! Have you seen my husband?"

"Yes Ma'am. Alex is in the back room."

"Good. Come on Ben, let's go surprise him. And thank you again Joseph for everything you and your men have done."

"You're welcome Ma'am." he said warmly.

Ben and his mom stepped through the swinging doors to the back and walked into an even bigger scene of chaos. From what Ben could see, the actually cleansing machine was completely ready to go; it was the motorized clothes rack that was causing the issues. There was one corner of the ceiling track that just didn't seem to want to connect properly, the conveyor chain binding at that one point. Ben heard his father talking to one of the workers, "…well there had to have been a wrong measurement somewhere if this corner isn't matching up correctly. Let's see if we can adjust the alignment on one or both of the straight tracks that meet up here." "Will do Mr. Dixon." came the crisp reply.

"Oh no Alex, this won't affect our opening date, will it?"

Mr. Dixon turns to his wife with a happily surprised look on his face. "No dear, it's just a small glitch. We should be able to get things fixed up before Saturday's Grand Opening."

"It's almost lunch time my dear. Can you take a break and come to lunch with us?"

"I think I can step away for a bit. I'll let Joseph know the crew can take an early lunch if he thinks it's OK."

"Excellent. Any ideas where we can grab a bite near hear?" Ben heard his mother ask hopefully.

"As a matter of fact Lois, I know of a nice deli a block or two up the road," he said, pointing his thumb in the direction along the main road to the battle fortress, "I believe it was called Sterling Delicatessen, and I think one of Joseph's work crew said it was a kosher deli."

"Well isn't that a pleasant surprise." Mrs. Dixon beamed.

"Cool! Does that mean they have knishes?" Ben jumped in.

His parents chuckled together at their son's appetite before his Dad finally answered, "I expect they do Ben. We better get a move though if you want to get any. I've been hearing they do a very brisk business."

"Alright!" exclaimed Ben, practically dragging his parents out the store after him.

* * *

Author's Notes: Yes…_**that**_ Sterling family.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: All Robotech characters and vehicles are property of Harmony Gold USA.

* * *

**Chapter 3**

Ben was up before the alarm clock today, feeling a combination of nervous and excited because today was the first day of school. Ben was excited, because he always enjoyed school back home but he was nervous because of being at a new school. He might have been a little nervous even if he were back home in Chicago; going to the junior high school would have been a new place too. Except there would have been at least a couple familiar faces if he were still back home. Here at this new school he didn't know anybody.

Ben shut off the alarm clock and went to go shower. _No sense in waking everyone, although I'd bet my allowance Mom is already awake. _As if to prove his point, Ben found a plaid button-down shirt and a pair of khakis laid out on his bed when he returned from the bathroom. He knew his mom had placed this nicer than usual outfit there. It had become something of a joke: the official "first day of school" Dixon uniform. Ben sighed and got dressed. _At least I'll be able to wear regular clothes after today._

His mother had a big bowl of Cocoa Puffs waiting for him as well as the camera. God forbid she didn't get a "first day of school" picture. Ben never saw the reason for all her fussing and always shook his head when Mom told him he'd understand when he had kids. Not that his lack of understanding stopped his mom from fussing. He had to stand and pose for a picture in his school outfit before he could sit and eat. Ben knew that his mom was also going to want a picture of him getting on the school bus. It was kind of ironic that the only thing not within walking distance was the Junior High School. (1)

The school bus wound up running a few minutes late, but that wasn't too surprising. The drivers for each bus would be learning a new route again too, as the kids from last year would have moved away or moved up to a higher grade. And as suspected, Ben's mom made him pose on the entry steps of the school bus for a picture. He really started to wonder if the bus was running late because _every_ mom was doing that to their children. He made his way towards the back of the bus, away from the smaller kids and sat down for the long ride to school.

* * *

At the school, Ben joined the throng of kids making their way in the main door of the building. Most of the other students knew where to go, but Ben had to figure out where in the building his homeroom was. The paperwork his parents received listed Room 145; Ben just had no idea which wing that room was in. Luckily there were teachers and office staff stationed in the lobby to help with just this problem. Ben talked to the first one he could find and was soon moving through the endless stream of fellow students. It was a long walk as his home room was at the opposite end of the school from the main entrance. The hall gradually became less crowded as other kids peeled off into their home rooms, until finally Ben was nearly the last one left in the hall.

Ben peeked in the door when he arrived at his home room; it was the absolute last room in this wing of the school building. Luckily the bell hadn't rung so Ben walked in and scanned around for an empty seat. The teacher looked up and asked, "You are …?"

"Ben Dixon sir."

"Dixon…Dixon…Ah, there you are…third seat in the row by the wall."

"Yes sir." Ben couldn't help thinking _Oh great, assigned seats. What are we, 2__nd__ graders?_

As he sat down, Ben noticed he was going to be the biggest kid in the class. He couldn't help that he looked more like a fourteen year old than a twelve year old. His height came from his Dad's side of the family; both Grandpa Jordan and Uncle Bobby were well over six feet tall and Ben was most likely going to be that tall as well.

A snicker came from behind Ben, "Hey Cole, look at the dumb butt; someone that big must have gotten held back a couple of years."

"Yeah Jimmy, must be a real moron if he's here with us instead of in High School."

Ben turned around, "Zip it you guys! I'm twelve just like you. I'm just big for my age. You just get big from working a farm where I came from."

The trouble makers just laughed. "Hah! So he's a dumb hick too!" said the one called Cole pretty loudly.

"Whatcha doing here on Macross hayseed?" said the one called Jimmy even louder. That caused the rest of the class to break out in laughter. _This is going to be a long year,_ thought Ben sourly. "Settle down class." voiced the teacher as first bell rang. "That's no way to treat a new student here. Now…I'll be taking attendance and assigning you your lockers for the year. After that, it will be time for your first class period."

* * *

Monday's schedule had mathematics first period, followed by history in second period, and English in third period but none of the classes did much this first day besides hand out books and materials. Ben was relieved that neither of the two trouble makers from homeroom shared any classes so far. There was a short break where he was able to drop off all the books from his morning classes at his locker before heading to lunch. His mother had given him money to buy the hot lunch today, though if today's choice wasn't very good Ben would likely brown bag a lot. Following along in line Ben picked the hotdog with chips and coleslaw, milk, and an apple. He never did develop a taste for junk food like some of his buddies back home, so he had no interest in the cookies or pudding. Jell-O would have been OK, but there was none to be had today; apparently this was the first day back for the cafeteria workers too.

As he made his way to the tables, Ben saw where Cole and Jimmy were sitting with a bunch of their buddies. Ben knew he wasn't going to sit anywhere near those two, so he found an empty table on the other side of the cafeteria and sat down to eat. He had barely gotten his first bite down when someone came over to the same table. "Hi. Is it OK if I sit here with you?" Ben looked up to see a skinny boy with blue hair.

"Sure, I'm not expecting anyone else."

"Thanks. My name's Max. Are you new here too?"

"Yeah, Mom and Dad just moved us here a couple of weeks ago. My name's Ben by the way. How about you?"

"My parents moved us here at the beginning of the summer. They needed to get their deli set up for business."

"A deli? Which one?"

"Sterling Delicatessen, on East McArthur Street."

"Really? My parents took me there a couple of Saturdays ago. I really liked the potato knishes they had. It's close by the dry-cleaning shop my parents are going to be running."

"That the one that just had a Grand Opening?"

"Yup, Dixon Dry-Cleaners."

"Cool. I'm glad none of the teachers have been giving homework on the first day. I think they realize how many of the students come and go because of their parent's military assignments. First day in a new school in a whole new town is scary enough as it is."

"Tell me about it. Hey since you've already been here for a few months, what's there to do in town?"

"I found where an arcade is. Want to hang there after school?"

"Sure. Meet you by the front door at the end of the day. Hey, what homeroom are you in."

"Room 136."

"Geez, how come I got stuck in 145?"

"Couldn't tell you Ben. I'd guess everyone is sorted by last name; a lot of the others in my homeroom have last names with S or T."

"So just bad luck I get stuck with the jokers and wise guys."

"Uh-oh, looks like lunch period is almost over. Any idea where we bring the dirty trays?"

"Hmm…probably over there where everyone is starting to crowd. What classes you have the rest of the day?"

"I'm pretty sure I have gym, science, math and history left today."

"I had math and history this morning. I've got gym, science, computers, and social studies the rest of the day."

"That's not too bad. Well, nice meeting you Ben. Meet me after school and we'll hit the arcade."

"Sure thing Max, nice meeting you too."

Ben and Max walked up to the tray slot together then parted ways as Ben headed to social studies and Max headed to math. Ben had a pleasant surprise when he saw Max had the same science class together, but that was the only one they had in common. Ben finished with gym today, but it looked like the class periods rotated, so tomorrow history would be first after homeroom in the morning.

* * *

Ben was really glad none of the teachers gave homework this first day, he was exhausted. He was under no illusion that tomorrow was going to be more of the same. He actually expected quite a bit of homework to be assigned and was really hoping it wouldn't all be due on Wednesday. Ben gathered his things out of his locker and started the long walk to the main door and the waiting school buses. He looked around and found where Max was waiting. Unfortunately he also saw Cole and Jimmy and they were trying to pick on Max. Walking up behind them he cleared his throat to get their attention. "AHEM! You're not picking on my friend, are you?" Standing up outside of class, Ben really was quite a bit taller than the pair of bullies. They took one look and decided hassling Max wasn't worth it. "C'mon Jimmy, we're gonna miss our bus."

"Thanks Ben. You ready to hit the arcade?"

Yup. We gonna go home first?"

"I don't know. Which bus are you on?"

"Bus 12."

"I'm on Bus 14. I'm thinking home first then. Here, let me write down my phone number. Give me a call when you get home and we'll plan from there."

"That'll work. It'll give me a chance to let my Mom know where we're going. Here's my number too."

It was an uneventful bus ride home and Ben was happy to get home. "Hey Mom, I'm back from school!"

"Benjamin dear, how was your first day?"

"Good. No homework today, so I expect I'll get slammed with homework tomorrow. I did meet a new friend, Max, at lunch. He was new to Macross too. Guess what? His parents own that deli we went to the other day!"

"Really? Well, didn't we all tell you to not worry about making new friends?"

"Yeah, you and Grandma were right." Ben grudgingly agreed, "Oh, before I forget, since we didn't have any homework today, Max wanted to show me where the arcade was in this part of town. Is it OK if I go with him? I have his phone number; he said to call him when I got home and asked you."

"Since you don't have any homework to do I don't see why you can't go and hang in with your new friend."

_Sigh_ "That's 'hang out' Ma."

"Whatever, just be back home by 6pm, for dinner."

"Yes Ma'am." Ben gives a mock salute and heads for the phone. To make things easier, Max's mom would be driving them to the arcade. Ten minutes after the boys got off the phone, a car with Max and his mom pulled up to the front door. "I'm leaving Ma, the Sterlings are here." Without waiting for her response, Ben jets out the front door and hops into the back seat with Max. "Hey Mom, This is Ben, from school."

"Hello Ben. I'm glad my Max was able to make a friend at school today."

"Thank you Ma'am. It was nice to meet Max as a new friend too."

It was about a fifteen minute ride to the arcade and the boys got more excited the closer they got. Mrs. Sterling confirmed what time Ben needed to be home and told the two of them that she would be back at 5:30pm to pick them up. They walked hurriedly into the building as Mrs. Sterling drove away. Ben's jaw dropped when he walked through the front door; there were arcades back in Chicago, but this one blew all of those away. Ben saw more games than he thought possible and was shocked that this place had an upper level. They'd only be able to get through a small portion of the games here before Max's mom would be back to get them.

To be fair to Ben, Max tried to find all the two-player games, figuring it would be more fun to play against each other than to just try to hit a high score solo. The favorite of the games they tried was a fighter jet game; they played close to a dozen times and they played each other fairly even. The final tally was Max 7 games and Ben 5 games, although Ben won most of his games early, with Max winning four straight games at the end for the overall victory and his margin of victory getting a little bigger with each win. Ben didn't care that much. He wasn't super competitive; he was just happy to be hanging out with a friend. Max looked at the clock after their final game and saw it was quarter after five. "We better start moving toward the entrance."

* * *

Max saw his mom pull up a minute after they back out on the street and the boys hopped in for the short ride back to Ben's house. He and Ben talked excitedly about their day and the trip flew by quickly. Ben thanked Mrs. Sterling for the ride and told max he'd see him at school tomorrow. After waving as they pulled away, Ben turned and entered his house. "I'm home Ma!"

"Good Ben. And you made it with time to spare."

"Mrs. Sterling was nice to make sure she could get me home in time."

"I hoped you remembered to thank her?"

"Yes I did. So, what's for dinner?"

"Your father was hoping for roast chicken tonight, with mashed potatoes and green beans. It's almost ready, so go wash your hands."

"OK Ma." Ben replied and headed to the bathroom to scrub up. _This has been a great day, and I kind of think Dad ask for a special dinner because it was the first day of school. I'm so glad I have cool parents, and I'm glad I made a new friend today too._


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: All Robotech characters and vehicles are property of Harmony Gold USA.

Ben and Max get a glimpse of their future.

* * *

**Chapter 4**

School settled into a routine over the next few weeks and after the first couple of days the homework started rolling in. Ben wasn't finding it too tough yet. He really thought he could have tested into 8th grade but his Mom insisted that he stay with his age group, to be a better fit for his social development. _Whatever. Meeting new friends would have been hard no matter which grade I was in. _Ben was lucky to have met Max that first day of school because he was still having difficulty meeting other people at school. Most of the other students were either intimidated by him or dismissive of him, although a few of the ones in his classes were starting to relax around Ben.

He was very glad he only saw the bullies Cole and Jimmy in Home Room. They presented a special problem for Ben: Even if they started things Ben, because of his size, would likely be punished more severely than those two if Ben was forced to defend himself. So he was forced to sit by and take whatever the pair of troublemakers dished at him. The rules provided a small out for Ben though. If Cole and Jimmy ever picked on Max then Ben would have every right to mop the floor with them, because then Ben would be defending a smaller student, so being the biggest kid in 7th grade wasn't totally without perks.

Science was right after lunch on Fridays, so Ben and Max were able to head to class together. It was looking like a light weekend for homework; the two of them might be able to do something fun on Saturday. The students gradually found their seats as they entered the classroom and waited for the teacher to show up after his lunch. "Good morning class!" boomed the instructor, a habitual greeting for this person regardless of the actual time of day. "I'm going to talk a little about the project I'm assigning for over the weekend." The class muttered a collective groan. "Now, now…it won't be that bad. I just want you to go out into the wild and find one example of a population interaction in nature and write a short description of it. Two or three paragraphs should be sufficient. And we will be spending class today discussing the different population interactions so you should be able to find at least one with no problem."

The teacher turned to the blackboard and began writing out lecture notes, "The first example is of course predator/prey, or more precisely, consumer/producer. Something eats something else. A bobcat eats a ground squirrel, for example. Another relationship everyone probably knows is parasite/host. This is where one organism benefits from the relationship while the other organism is harmed, sometimes to the point of death, but always to a point where it is worse off than if it didn't have the parasite. A third example is mutualism. This is a relationship where both organisms benefit. A good example of that would be a grouper and a cleaner wrasse. The grouper benefits by getting a good cleaning and the wrasse gets a good meal from what it cleaned off the grouper."

"What does the wrasse fish clean off the grouper exactly?" asked a student from the back of the classroom.

"Good question. The grouper has parasites in its gills and leftover food bits in its teeth, so the wrasse has a good menu selection. The wrasse typically has a spot where it sets up a cleaning station on the reef and the groupers come to them."

"Are those the only kinds of interactions?" a girl near the front of the class asked.

"No, there are two others I'd like you all to try and look for. One is commensalism. That is where one organism gains a benefit and the second organism is neither helped nor harmed by the interaction. A great example of this is a remora and a shark. The remora gets a free ride and free food from the scraps of the shark's meal, but the shark doesn't really get anything from the remora, except maybe annoyed. The shark isn't being hurt by the remora but the remora isn't really doing anything to help the shark either. The last interaction I want you to be looking for this weekend is competition. This is where two different organisms are both going after the same resource. An example is bobcats and coyotes both trying to capture rabbits for dinner. Neither the bobcats or the coyotes will do as well as they would if they didn't have to share the rabbits with the other predator."

"So where are we supposed to find these interactions?" asked the first student.

"Look around anywhere on Macross Island: at the beach, in the forest, up on one of the hills. Where ever you go looking, you should find at least one of these interactions, although you might have to look really, really hard because the organisms might be really, really small. Now I'm not saying you need to find a microorganism, but you may need to be looking at insects or worms or other things about that size. Don't limit yourselves to looking for the big organisms." The teacher went on for a few more minutes about the project then jumped back into yesterday's discussion about classifying organisms, all the way down to genus and species. The bell for next class rang as he was finishing the final lecture note. "See you Monday class. Remember…two to three paragraphs describing a population interaction you observe this weekend."

"Well, that kills our plans," Ben grouses to Max out in the hall.

"Actually Ben, it helps our plans. We can still take our trip up the mountain in Kalatupa Park like we planned; just now it will be so we can get our homework done."

"Good thinking. And we'll have lunch packed, so we could spend all day working on this and still have fun up there. And our parents can't complain because this will be for school."

"Yup! Sometimes the education gods smile on us." The two friends share a laugh as they separate for their next classes. "Meet you after school Ben," chimes an eager Max.

* * *

The next morning, Max's parents drop him off at the Dixon house and with some help from Mrs. Dixon the two boys prepare for their science expedition. As much as Ben wanted roast beef sandwiches, the two friends agreed with Ben's Mom that peanut butter and jelly would probably be a better choice, since they wouldn't need to be chilled as cold as the beef. Mrs. Dixon also packed them apples, carrot sticks and plenty of water bottles. "The two of you can save the sugary junk as a treat for when you get back." she reminded them. They also packed some small notepads for when they collected the data or made observations and a pair of binoculars. After a quick double check, the boys head off to the bus stop to catch a ride to the park.

Once there, they studied the trail map posted at the visitor's center before setting out on the trail leading to the summit. They stopped fairly frequently along the trail, seeking the interaction they needed for their reports. Ben thought he found an example of mutualism when he noticed ants that looked like they were protecting aphids on a plant and the aphids were providing the ants with a clear food substance. A little farther up the trail Max thought he discovered an example of competition. He saw a plant where both hummingbirds and various butterflies came to sip the nectar from its flowers. Both boys were satisfied with what they found so far but each kept their eyes open as they continued their ascent to the summit in case an even better example presented itself.

By agreement, when they finally reached the summit they set up to have a picnic lunch break and enjoy the scenery. You could see just about the entire island from there and the view was spectacular today, a clear blue sky and lots of sunshine. It was the kind of day that made the boys contemplative about the future.

"You ever think about what you want to do when you're done with school Max?"

"Not really. I don't think Mom and Dad are hoping I take over the deli when I'm older, but you never know."

"Oivay. I worry that my Mom and Dad _**are**_ going to groom me for taking over the dry-cleaning business. I really want to do something else. Maybe become a scientist or engineer. The assignment we had today was kind of fun."

Max thinks a bit while chewing a bite of sandwich. "You know, going to college and becoming a researcher might be pretty cool. Learning new things about the world or the mysteries of the universe seems like it could be exciting."

"How about becoming a pilot? You know, maybe in that new Space Navy service."

"I don't know about that Ben. There has to still be ways to get a flying job without joining the military."

"It was just a thought." Ben says before taking a huge bite of his own sandwich. As they sit talking and eating, they hear the roar of engines coming closer. Recognizing it as the sound of one of the military jets on the island, they scan the skies to catch a glimpse of it. Max is the first to see it, climbing lazily a couple of hills over.

"I don't recognize that one Ben. I wonder if it's one of those new fighters they've been doing flight tests on at the base?"

"Are you sure? It looks like any other fighter I've seen around the skies here."

As if it heard Ben and wished to prove him wrong, the fighter craft began a shocking transformation: Its two engine pods swung down and forward to turn into what looked like legs and two other pods swung forward and out to become what looked like a pair of arms. The jaws of the two boys dropped in unison, their only reaction a barely vocalized "Whoa". The strange plane continued its flight, albeit at a slower rate of speed, and showed incredible maneuverability, compared to a standard aircraft. As it turned in a tight bank, the boys could see its tail surfaces had also folded up; most of the maneuvering came from thruster jets, not the movement of control surfaces. The craft gradually slowed its forward speed to zero, hovering gracefully. At that point, the boys noticed one arm held what looked like a gigantic gun. They did not get a long look at the odd converting plane though; without warning it resumed forward motion and transformed back to its original 'standard' fighter look, zooming off with a blast of its afterburners.

"Ben. I would do anything…even join the military…if I could fly one of those things."

"You said it Max. That thing was wicked cool. You gotta wonder though…does that thing change all the way into a robot too or did we see its only two tricks."

"Beats me Ben, although you would think it would be able to go full robot if it could sprout arms and legs like that."

"If it did, I would fly one of those in a heartbeat. Max…let's make a promise. When we both get old enough, we're going to join the service so we can fly those things." Ben holds out his hand to shake on the proposed pact.

"You're on chief." Max says excitedly and grabs Ben's hand, sealing the deal.

* * *

Author's notes: Sorry for taking so long on this chapter. The original fic drew me back into the post 'To The Stars' story arc.

I also apologize for the biology lesson, but I needed a reason to get Max and Ben up to the top of that hill.


End file.
